Twenty-nine named National Scholarship semifinalists

Students advance to finalist stage for titles and scholarships

September 27, 2012 —Twenty-nine Phillips Academy students have earned recognition from the National Merit Scholarship Corporation of Evanston, Ill., for their exceptional performance on the 2011 PSAT. The 29 are among a nationwide pool of 16,000 semifinalists (less than one percent of U.S. high school seniors) which includes the highest scoring entrants in each state. The number of semifinalists in a state is proportional to the state’s percentage of the national total of graduating seniors.

Phillips Academy’s 2012-2013 National Merit semifinalists are:

Sahil Bhaiwal (Andover, Mass.); Jeremy Chen (Monmouth Junction, N.J.); Connie Cheng (Milpitas, Calif.); Tyler Devlin (France); Emily Field (Andover, Mass.); Virginia Fu (North Andover, Mass.); Michael Garai (Newton, Mass.); James Garth (Andover, Mass.); Samuel Khalandovsky (Andover, Mass.); Skanda Koppula (Sewickley, Pa.); Anjali Krishnamachar (Darien, Conn.); Darlina Liu (Flushing, N.Y.); Nickhil Nabar (Andover, Mass.); Annika Neklason (Santa Cruz, Calif.); Patrick Niedzielski (Methuen, Mass.); Chien Hong Png (Singapore); Jing Qu (Lincolnshire, Ill.); Lillian Scherlis (Pittsburgh, Pa.); Katherine Shih (Mountain View, Calif.); Jennifer Sluka (Coralville, Iowa); Nathaniel Smith (Madison, Wis.); Dakyung Song (Korea); Mackenzie Strabala (Las Vegas, Nev.); Gregory Wang (Blue Bell, Pa.); Justin Wang (Minneapolis, Minn.); Rachel Wittenberg (Carlisle, Mass.); Gregory Young (San Francisco, Calif.).

Phillips Academy’s 2012-2013 National Achievement semifinalists are:

Unwana Abasi (Katy, Texas); Alexandra Bell (Austin, Texas); Gregory Fulcher (Hollis, N.Y.).

About the National Merit Scholarship Program

High school students enter the National Merit Program by taking the PSAT, which serves as an initial screen of more than 1.5 million entrants each year, and by meeting published program entry/participation requirements.  The Selection Index scores of students who met program participation requirement were used to designate a pool of about 16,000 Semifinalists.  Approximately 90 percent of the semifinalists are expected to reach the finalist level, and half of these will likely be selected as Merit Scholarship winners, earning the Merit Scholar title. Every Finalist will compete for one of 2,500 National Merit $2500 Scholarships that will be awarded on a state representational basis.

About the National Achievement Scholarship Program

Black students may enter both the National Achievement Program and the National Merit Program by taking the PSAT and meeting other published requirements for participation. Black American students can qualify for recognition and be honored as Scholars in both the National Merit Program and the National Achievement Program, but can receive only one monetary award from National Merit Scholarship Corporation. Roughly 1,300 Achievement semifinalists are expected to advance to the finalist level. From the finalists, approximately 800 Achievement Scholar awardees will be chosen. Every finalist will compete for one of the 700 National Achievement $2500 scholarships. One hundred additional scholarships, which are underwritten by different corporate and business sponsors, will be awarded to students who meet criteria as designated by the grantors.